3 St. John's Students Acquitted Of Sexually Assaulting a Woman

By JOSEPH P. FRIED

Published: July 24, 1991

In a case that cut to the heart of a growing debate about sex crimes at colleges across the country, three St. John's University students yesterday were acquitted of sexually assaulting a female student in an encounter at a house near the university's Queens campus.

The trial was the first stemming from an episode last year that rocked the 19,000-student school, the nation's largest Roman Catholic university, and led to charges of criminal sodomy, sexual abuse and other crimes against six male students.

And as one of the first high-profile cases of "acquaintance" assault to come to trial, it offered an unusual courtroom illustration of the central issue in such cases: Where does consent leave off and force begin? To Jurors, 'Too Many Lies'

Yesterday, after six days of deliberation in a sometimes emotional and gripping two-month trial in State Supreme Court in Queens, the jury of six men and six women gave its verdict. It rejected all charges -- including first-degree sodomy, the most serious -- against Walter Gabrinowitz, 23 years old; Matthew Grandinetti, 22, and Andrew Draghi, whose 22d birthday was yesterday.

Last night, several jurors said they had not believed much of the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, especially that of the woman in the case. In five days of riveting testimony, she had graphically told of a nightmarish ordeal in which she said she was repeatedly sodomized and sexually degraded and tormented after being pressured to drink a vodka-and-orange-soda mix that caused her to become ill and to slip in and out of consciousness.

"There were just so many inconsistencies and too many lies in everyone's testimony," the jury foreman, Michael Fahid, said. "There were just too many doubts." [ Page B4. ]

The verdict brought tears of joy and relief from the defendants and their families. But it drew quick condemnation from other quarters.

Mayor David N. Dinkins said that, "based upon my reading of the evidence presented in this case, I am shocked and dismayed."

The case, involving a black woman and white defendants, had racial currents that remained muted during much of the trial. But those concerns were underscored today in the reaction of some. Representative Charles B. Rangel of Manhattan compared the verdict to the acquittal of whites in the Old South and said he would demand today that the Justice Department prosecute the men for violating the woman's civil rights.

If the jury, which included 10 whites and two blacks, had convicted the defendants of the sodomy charge, they could have been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Instead, the men -- all from Bethpage, L.I., and all members of the St. John's lacrosse team before they were suspended from school -- wept with relief at the defense table as the jury foreman, Mr. Fahid, delivered the finding in the Long Island City courtroom.

The defendants' parents, who include an engineer and a limousine driver, and other relatives also sobbed in the courtroom's spectator section, which was only half full, in sharp contrast to the days last month when crowds packed the 150-seat gallery during the woman's testimony.

The woman, who has not been identified in news reports and who dropped out of St. John's shortly after the incident, was not in the courtroom to hear the verdicts, nor were any of her relatives, most of whom live outside New York City. But outside the courtroom, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, the Brooklyn minister and civil rights figure who has acted as her spokesman, charged that there had been "a miscarriage of justice."

"A young lady's life has been ruined," he said. "These three men surely bear guilt."

Mr. Gabrinowitz, a husky six footer with a crewcut whom the prosecution had portrayed as a leader of the alleged attack, said, "I feel great."

"Oh my God!" Mr. Draghi said repeatedly. His father, a 55-year-old engineer also named Andrew, wept profusely as he told a reporter about his son: "It's his birthday. This has got to be the finest birthday there's ever been."

The Queens District Attorney, Richard A. Brown, whose predecessor, John J. Santucci, began the prosecution, said he was "of course disappointed."

"I have met and talked with the complainant at length," he added. "She has suffered deep scars which shall remain with her always as a result of that which has occurred." Going Forward With Trial

Mr. Brown said he intended to "go forward with the trial of the two remaining defendants." He was referring to Michael Calandrillo, 22, also of Bethpage, who is charged with first-degree sodomy and other crimes, and Adam Gerber, 24, of Bellerose, Queens, who was charged with first-degree sexual abuse. The sixth indicted man, Joseph Reilly, 21, of Monsey, N.Y., pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree sexual abuse as part of a plea bargain in which he testified as a key witness for the prosecution.

Mr. Draghi's lawyer, Larry Silverman, told a crush of reporters on the courthouse steps that it was a "great verdict."

"The jury deliberated very carefully and they agreed with us that the fellows were not guilty," Mr. Silverman said. Mr. Gabrinowitz's lawyer, Stephen Scaring, said, "Everybody just assumed the defendants were guilty."

The three men had been charged with making the woman engage in oral sex on March 1, 1990, after Mr. Calandrillo reportedly induced her to drink the vodka-and-soda mix. Mr. Gabrinowitz was accused of having forced the short, slender woman to engage in oral sex when she was awake and by taking advantage of her helplessness when she reportedly passed out from the alcohol. The other two defendants, also solidly built men with athletic prowess, were cleared of charges that they had made her engage in the sodomy by exploiting her helplessness.

In Justice Joan O'Dwyer's courtroom, Mr. Silverman and Mr. Scaring argued that no crimes had been committed because the woman consented to whatever sexual activity took place at the house and that she afterward "fabricated" the attack story.

The trial prosecutors, Peter Reese and Vincent Gentile, said Mr. Calandrillo told the woman he had to stop at the house to get money for gasoline and invited her in to meet his housemates. They suggested that this was a ruse to get the woman to the house.

The jury -- two of whose members are black -- acquitted Mr. Gabrinowitz of 12 counts that included first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse, and second-degree unlawful imprisonment. Mr. Draghi was acquitted of 11 counts that included the same charges. Mr. Grandinetti was acquitted of the only two counts against him that went to the jury, first-degree sodomy and sexual misconduct.

Photos: Three St. John's University students were acquitted of sexually assaulting a student. Being escorted from court in Queens were, from left, Matthew Grandinetti, Andrew Draghi and Walter Gabrinowitz. (Associated Press); Discussing the verdict yesterday were the lawyers for the defendants, from left, Larry Silverman, Benedict S. Gullo Jr. and Stephen Scaring. "Everybody just assumed the defendants were guilty," Mr. Scaring said.; "A young lady's life has been ruined," said the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, spokesman for the woman in the case. (Photographs by Nancy Siesel for The New York Times) (pg. B4)